PrideCenterNews_v2no9.pdf
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- PrideCenterNews_v2no9.pdf
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CE~rrER.~I;,,vs
No More.
NO LESS!
Volume 2, No. 9
pri e_ce1der_
please consider how important it is that you renew
~;;:;t;;;,s~;t:I~~=~:
-- :;;~;;::~;i~;;
if we will have to close the Pride
Center 110later than the end of this
year'° unless we see a significant change in the next I I½ months. Despite repeated pleas to those on our
mailing list as well as the community at large, we st m
do not have even close to the level of operating income
that we need on a monthly basis. Renewed and new
members count about 50 now and ~::~.?Hl9rm
1~.~ ..E~~~E~❖
that our monthly ple?ge total now stds som~where .
around $400.00. Seemg as our montlJ operatm
penses are close to $2,000.00, we arirl,far sho •
monthly pledge level that we need. ;;,:::
w
and organizations. If each of the 280 made a donation
of $10.00 per month, we'd have $2,800 every month,
in addition to one~time donations. That would cover
our monthly expenses and also give us money to pursue other important endeavors and activities. And,
when you consider that about IO people are responsible for the approximate $400.00 already pledged, that
might require,ailhtle less of every one else. Additionlly, if ½ of thqij280 would volunteer to work I hour
.month, w~///couldcover all of the times that the
currenly open with no one having to work
I houl each month.
It saddens me to think tha~ the peopli~
. c
in, in t!bse terms it seems like we should easnity are really this apathetic and un'YJllmg•
le to st. port the Pride Cent~r and TOHR,
such a valuable resource as the Pridl]Cente
ince tiere a several people m our commucan come to no other conclusion. Notbnly ha~ it·•· .
y pqrson on our mailing list. 1 think part
difficult to obtain the needed moneyfor qperatictp.of!
m is:that too many people think, "Oh, my
the Pride Cenrer, it has been next tu i1pp~s{ibleto;find•
rl a mbnth won't make a difference." But
good volunteers to work even I night~a me>q~h.<!~~~ ft
vng. {s I said above, $10.00 a month from
appall1 me, pij[tiC
a dividual /10usehold, bus1i1essand orga11izatio11
INSt!JEnUS ISSUE:
larly When I consider
~~Idput us ;efl over what we 11eedto operate.
the atnount of time
______
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that I h~~;;•p~tT~
this •·w·
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• .....
a........
•r>•:e
.............
;o:::.
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...............
in.g an ad hoc committee to look at fund~-'""·""-...
II
~~~
CommunHJ
Response
2
year. What also sad+-~,.dens
me is that people
..
raising options for the Pride Center. The committee
will meet weeklv
on Tuesdavs
at 6:30 PM at the
_,
-..,•
who were formerly
involved with the
_c_h_a_u_e_n
....
•e....11
_____
.,..._~
Pride Center seem to
CommunHr
Calendar
• have no interest in it's
----------!!---"""
continued
success.
TOHR Can111•111aces
Whatever may have
·-Fr_e_e""'T""e""s""c•"'"n"'"•""""-"'""""""'"➔--.- caused you to leave,
Pride Center. Please come and join the meeting if you
have any ideas on what we can do to raise funds or if
you just want to pitch in and help.
•=·.._
_______
Leccer co die Elll•tor
Tex·a""s==s.-11'"'o""m-,-La""w
......
s ......--ll-"'--a1
•
Just in case you didn't already know, we have several
groups and organizations that meet at the Pride Center
(Co11/i1111ed
on page 2)
•·•·Pr.lcle Center News, page 2
(Conlinuedjrom page/)
on a regular basis:
• The Com1i1gOut Group meets weekly,
• Two Alcoholics Anonymous meetings are held
weekly,
• Pnine Timers has
monthly
board
and membership
meeting,
• T U.L.S.A. has its
monthly membership meeting,
• NO Whas a monthly membership meeting,
• Free Anonymous HIV Testing is now offered
twice weekly,
• Community Movie Mghtis held weekly,
• PFLAGMovieMghtis
held monthly,
• Sports I Game Mght is held weekly,
• Rainbow Business Gwldmeets quarterly,
• A Women's Event Mghthas just started monthly,
• The Pride '99 Planmi1g Committee meets monthly
and
• TOHR has monthly membership and board meetmgs.
.-----==•
If all of that isn't enough justification for keeping the
Pride Center open, we also have other irregular events
that occur at the Pride Center; and our help line has
become increasingly busy. We now take over 100 calls
a month for various information during the limited
hours that we are open and when we have a volunteer.
Many other calls are missed or picked up by the answering system.
So, you see, the Pride Center does have an important
place in our community; it serves a purpose. If the
Pride Center is forced to close, we
will look for a smaller space that
might afford some opportunities,
but some groups would surely be
out of a place to meet and we
would have to further fight the
recognition of where we are in the
community. But wouldn't it be better and easier if
everyone just dug in and supported the Pride Center
as it is?
The Pride Center can remain open, but not without
your support, both monetarily and volunteering. The
strength of our community center is dependent on the
convictions of the people involved. Please support it
TODAY!!
Community Responds to
Calendar
The Community Calendar is now being produced. You'll
find it fodudcd , this issue. Whether it will continue as a
pew,$leucris still to be decided, but we'll do our
~¢'the
,..., tf:~ youinformed. You can always call the help
Jm:eto~iom,;h,u'_-,; on the calendar.
Not CVC1')'0tl~;lUr
..-. we sent information to is participating in
the ~J"
ais
point, but hopefully more of you will
once ytiuSt+c it. the look of the calendar is sure to change
over timodue to the over- and under-burdening of some
dtyiwn the ~tentlar.
If ~d
Hkc to t.~sist with the calendar, we can use help
mamng. om tJ+Jendars and information, following up
with hui.incssesInd organizations, and compiling and producing the qitcnw,r itself.
Let us know ff you have any
wouldliketO he ,n , aJ
IL.Ii.;
t " • or comments or
Pride Center
Letter to the Editor
011 the rainy evening of Saturday, October 17th, TOI fR
and PFI ,i\G hosted a candlelight vigil for Matthew
Shepard.
It rained all-day and showed no signs of letting up. l decided to relax in the warmth of our home thinking the vigil
will probably be cancelled. At 9:00 PM, I started reading
the morning paper. It explained how the rain poured on the
funcr:11 attendants in Wyoming and how the rain did not
phase their devotion. The protestors and supporters attended even though the rain was merciless. The )()..second
co\'crage that television gave the vigil hit my guilty bone.
I felt like a heathen or spineless snake. I felt this way not
because the Westboro Baptist Church says that I am
(because of my sexual orientation); but because I didn't attend the vigil. I fow selfish! Even if the vigil was cancelled,
I should have been there insisting that it took place.
1\ly point is this, Matthew Shepard unwillingly lost his life.
This is similar to the struggle that racial minorities have mdurcd over the centuries. GBLT rights will eventually be
tolerated or accepted but only if we willingly endure multiple small inconveniences and sacrifices throughout our lives.
I.e., getting off the couch and showing the world that we do
care about hate crimes even if it means that we will mess up
our hair or get wet in the rain!
I ,osing a friend, rejecting a friend, rejection from family,
replacing a barber and standing in the rain because of our
morals arc small prices to pay. Enduring these may be difficult tasks. Hut if only one person notices your actions it will
affect them. That person may not agree with your beliefs
or actions but they will in some form respect you for it in
the future. When that person encounters a situation involving CBLT discrimination, they will think a moment longer
before acting, and you have done some good.
Ned Bruha
Texans To Challenge Sodomy
Laws
The 119-ycar-old law that makes homosexual oral and anal
sex a misdemeanor worthy of a maximum $500 fine in
Texas will be put to the test by two men who were arrested
in the apartment of one of them. l louston police officers
were responding to what turned out to be a false report of
an armed robbery September 17, when they came upon Ty-
News,
page 3
ronc Garner and John Geddes Lawrence engaged in sex.
The pair were taken to jail and later released 011$200 l,ail.
Now Garner and Lawrence plan to challenge the law with
exactly the kind of case state gay and lesbian acti\'ists ha\'c
been waiting for.
Prosecutions for pri\'ate consensual sex acts arc so rare that
the laws are difficult to challenge, although their impact is
frequently felt when they are cited in regards to other i~sues, such as discrimination, employment and adoption.
Texas activists tried to raise a civil challenge to the sodom:,·
law in 1994, but the state Supreme Court ruled that it did
not have jurisdiction in the case because the plaintiffs had
not been prosecuted under the sodomy law. In fact, only
two or three sodomy cases have been prosecuted O\'C:r the
last 30 years in the state, and all those involved sex acts that
took place in public jails in view of witnesses. Ironically,
the infrequent enforcement of sodomy laws has also been
used to justify leaving them on the books. Attornc\' for
Garner and Lawrence Mitchell Katine, can now say, "F.or all
those people who have said over the years that this statute is
never enforced need to realize that that's not true."
So Texas activists, while outraged about the circumstances
of the case, are enthusiastic about its potential. "W c cc.1·tainly hope to move this forward, and we'd love to sec it
move all the way up the ladder and be declared unconstitutional," said Ilouston Gay and Lesbian Politic:11 Caucus
president Clarence Bagby. "We need to get this lsodomy
lawJ off the books." I larris County District Attorney John
8. Holmes Jr. agrees with the strategy. Although he intends
to prosecute Garner and Lawrence under the presumption
that the law is constitutional, he said, "Hut 11\'c ahvays said
that the best way to get rid of a bad law is to enforce i~."
That wasn't the way it worked out in the infamous ( 1corgia
case of "Bowers v. Ilardwick," in which the U.S. Supreme
Court in I '186 upheld that state's sodomy law, however.
"Bowers" began much like the current Texas case, when p>licc discovered Michael l lardwick engaged in sex with miother man in his own bedroom, after the officers had mtercd the house in connection with an unrelated investigation of I lardwick's roommate. In the end, former Georgia
state Attorney General Michael Howcrs successfully tk:fendcd the right of states to regulate priv:1tc sexual conduct.
Garner and Lawrence arc set to be arraigned before Justice
of the Peace Mike Parrott on November 20. Their ease
must go through the county court and into the criminal
court system before the c011stitutio11alissues can be argued.
The call that led to the arrest of the two I lo11sro11ga:,· mm
(Cn111i1111cd 011 f"I,!;<' 8)
TULSA,
OKLAHOMA
74106
for all of TULSA!
Commur
" " "
SERVING
the
LGBT
COMMUNITIES
AND
OUR
FRIENDS
SUNDAY
MONDAY
8
15
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HIV TESTING BY APPT - 9 A-6 P
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CHURCH SCHOOL- 9:30 A
VVORSHIP- 10:30A
22
23
ouse of Ho/ S iri Mint
FELLO
BIBLE
utreachPrevention
HIV TESTING BY
l=""'"""""a...cAA=
- Pooe Center
24
** Contact Aleta ~
Pride Center
News, page 5
nity Calendar
ESDAY
FRIDAY
THURSDAY
11
JTR/T/ON
1/erRec Park- 7:00P
Cntr-COFFEE
SAT/ON-Call
for Time
Ministnes -
:LLOWSHIP- 6:00 P
BLESTUDY- 7:00P
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SATURDAY
I - 1ST NEW VOLUNTEER
TRAININGSESSION- 10:00A - 5:00
p
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CENTERCINEMACompassion,■ - 7:30 P
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HIV TESTING- PRIDE CTR - 4 P-8 P
11=9l.Wl!dl2.£:!aPride Center- 5:30 P
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Ministries'LLOWSHIP- 6:00P J...-!J,1,!¥,j=1a.
~LESTUDY- 7:00 P
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ita @ 583-3443 for
tickets
26
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21
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i HIV TESTJNG- PRIDE CTR- 4 ,'4 P
r-Prld&Center-5:30P
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Were You There ...
TOHR November Meeting
Officer Elections
Officer elections for TOHR were held at the
November membership meeting o November 10, 1998, at 7:30 PM. Office andidates
for 1999, present~~ ~tJb¢q)cto
ship nieeting werei} • ••
President ,s>
reg Gatewood
Ken Draper
Secretary - Ma Schepers
Treasurer - L n Mostoller
FirstVice-President,
Greg Gatewood
Greg Gatewood is the candidate for First VicePre;;ident of TOHR. Currently serving in the
same capacity as he is nominate4r€if~gi~also the
Volunteer Coordinator for the Pride (ii.mter and
the Pride Store.
on the
mittee
Pride '
g since June of 19
e '98 Committee; Sp . ·al Events Cornis currently involved fjth planning for
He also assists with;lrnmotional and
materials for TOHRillf
rfg i~: :raduate of Oklahoma State Universii:y•and is employed with a
local architectural firm.
Treasurer,
Lynn Mostoller
Lynn ~lg~toUe. .
~~~~t;~t t:te;,~itii,,
5
of
prytcipal trombonist ,l~h
th~ Tulsa Philharmoqic.
ShiLhas hecn an acti~ of
PFL'.~G since 1993,tEynn
has sc1+ed .-!$ Nc,,·sletter
Editor for thi Tulsa chapter of PJ<"LAGand is currcntly Vicc-1Wesident.
···::: :·..:::·.=··}<-:t:.·•:•:•.-:,::::::=.:
Secretary,
Mary Schepers
Mary S59~{.t is a local pgti;journal~ and .
co-f6tinder of "Oid-A
Valting-Ms
Ad~enmn\. for Women!l/ an
~~::!~
~ti,ct~P~!!
1
ted tq..
. ng a
stronger I bian com-
1307 E. 38th Street,2nd Floor T Tulsa,OK 74105
November 11, 1998
To all local gay and gay-friendly businesses and organizationsFirst of all, I would like to thank those who participated in the November Community
Calendar for sending in their information. I apologize for the lateness of getting the
calendar and this letter out, but we are still learning.
I hope that you are all as excited about this opportunity as I am. We can do so much
as a community if we only know what everyone else is doing. I want to encourage
those of you who were unable to participate this month to do so next month.
Once again, we are proposing that each business and organization in the Tulsa area
forward a calendar of events for the next month no later than the 20th of the
preceding month to TOHR/the Pride Center. We will then compile the information
into one calendar of events that we will send back out to each business and
organization before the 1st of the month. We will also forward a copy of the calendar
to the newspapers that serve our community to better keep them informed on what is
happening. Enclosed you will find a calendar for December that can be used to write
in dates and events/activities. We will try to call you shortly should you have any
questions.
Should you have groups and/or events that you do not wish to have placed on the
calendar but for which we can provide referrals, please do not write them on the
calendar. Instead, write a note on the back of the calendar indicating the name and
nature of the group/event with the date and time. We will keep a separate list as a
resource for the information line.
I hope that you too can see the tremendous value to be gained from such a venture.
Please assist us in making this happen. Complete the enclosed calendar and return
th
it to us no later that November 20, 1998. The 20 of each month will be held as a
strict deadline.
Please return to:
TOHR - Community Calendar
PO Box 2687
Tulsa, OK 74101
Or bring it by the Pride Center:
TOHR - the Pride Center
th
1307 E 38 Street
Tulsa, OK 74105
Thank you for your time and assistance. Please feel free to share this letter and
information with anyone we may have inadvertently forgotten.
Steven J. Hom, President
REFERRAL INFO BUSINESS/ORGANIZATION NAME
PHONE AND/OR ADDRESS
FOR HELPLINE
TOHR INFORMA- CONTACT PERSON & PHONE
TIONONLY
December
Sun
1998
Tue
Mon
PLEASE PRINT LEG/BL YI/ WE MAY
NOT BE ABLE TO CALL FOR CONFIRMAT/ON ON UNREADABLE PRINT/I
W'ed
Fri
Thu
Sat
I
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
II
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
.
' '
~
.
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.
,-,,
Pride Center News,
page 7
President,
Steve Horn
Second Vice
Ken Draper
Ken is the HIV Educator/Coordinator for
Red Rock ~.ehavioral Health Servic:es in
It's been quite a year. I am pleased to be nominated for a
second term as president of TOHR. l have enjoyed the past
year, although it has been very stressful at times. We've
been through a lot, from the fantastic 1998 Pride Picnic to
the broken door(s) at the Pride Center. We've come a long
way Jhis year. The separation of H.O.P.E. from TOHR
has IJJSweq
;£,ff?cus our energy on the Pride Center
i
.? ... about managing a second business
witho·u
in HO\.
·•
f~~µ _ ~.~~. \~i~.e Center has begun to
1
!::7~~i~~;d~r~!v~ac:::lllfil;
• t.c
w ri u tb h VC ni<;l~ • !l?' • 1.: j iLi:s
, dwPrjde Center and c;i've.rea:nrl
i '""nofro~ the enr to~
f~.,
!:~:~:,::.
!::::i
flJ:i£::',:i~t;!iti'.
bow Btsine;s Guild in • ulsa, has vol~nte;red
with Youth Services of Tulsa and been a
PFy,\P & ]fa,O.H.l{;.support,r for many
helpiJ1gfurth.¢r devc\§p\tpe ijJIOE di:>iiia,-rER/TOHR:intP a
. central:res~irclagcilcy for the Les/Bi/Gay/
Trans. Community in Tulsa."
We du 'U (
foremost has to be
to
suppotithe Pride Ceo
meet oqt operating expenses. We also need , n
at
the Pride Center to answer the help line and work in the
Pride Store when the Pride Center is open. We need help
with planning major events, especially the 1999 Pride Picnic. 1999 is going to be an incredible year for TOHR and
the Pride Center. We can accomplish so much if we work
together, Please get involved if you are not already. The
effons of everyone in our community are needed if we arc
to be successful.
e
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,
(Continued from page 3)
came from Roger David Nance. Harris County Sheriffs
Department officers responded to his report of an armed
man in an apartment complex, and he directed them to the
apartment where Garner and Lawrence were found. Nance
pleaded no contest and served 15 days in jail for filing a false
police report. David Jones, an attorney for the two men,
cited Nance's motive as a "personality conflict between the
caller and the people in the apartment."
..f UtSJ.\
Q ,<LArlQJ\1\J.\~IS
111 )
for
"
r UN\J.\~IlitGt-rrs
The Pride Center
PO Box 2687
Tulsa, OK 7410 I
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